Broken Body, Broken Trust
by cherik-mcbender
Summary: Erik and Hank are grappling in the fountain (timeline: DOFP), and things go differently than they might have, causing a rift in Charles and Erik's relationship when Charles loses something close to his heart.


**Prompt:** Request for when you get back? Maybe after the scene where Erik tries to kill Raven (the fight scene between Erik and Hank) Erik somehow manages to kill Hank instead and how Charles deals with it. I really do love their friendship in DOFP. -anon

Hank shoved Erik down under the water, his furry paws numb as he forced his entire weight to keep the writhing man beneath the surface. Metal was flying all around the courtyard, people were screaming and running, but Hank didn't let go. Erik's thrashing head slammed against the concrete bottom of the fountain, and suddenly the water was turning red, staining Hank's blue fur and making him gag. But then Erik went limp. Hank felt himself relaxing, breathing for the first time in what seemed like hours. He watched Erik carefully and was moving his paw to check for a pulse when Erik's eyes shot open, and the wire sculpture of the fountain snaked around Hank's limbs without warning, yanking him off Erik and holding him up to the sky.

Erik emerged from the bubbling water gasping, his hair stained red and his eyes wild.

"Erik!" Hank yelled, wriggling with all his might but unable to get free. "Erik, get these things off me. Let me go!"

Erik clenched his teeth, fury rushing through his veins. "Stop moving. You're wasting your energy." He turned on his heel and strode toward the retreating crowd, his eyes scanning the masses for any sign of Raven. He had to finish the job he had started.

"Erik, please - " Hank's voice cracked.

"You disgust me," Erik murmured without turning. He raised his voice and shouted into the wind, "Don't beg! Just fight."

"I don't want to fi - " Hank began.

Erik ground his teeth. "WHERE IS YOUR BRAVERY?" he roared, throwing his hand up to tighten the cables that held Hank in hopes that he might shut up.

It worked. Hank grew quiet. Erik smiled grimly and continued to walk. He had gotten to the edge of the courtyard and was quickly losing hope of finding Raven when he turned around.

Hank's broken body was shrinking back into its human form, and he began to slip through the wires - but not before Erik saw the inhuman angle at which the metal has forced his head. Hank's glasses splashed into the water, but Hank himself remained suspended, still entangled in the wires, his neck broken and head hanging down limply.

"Hank?" Erik whispered.

He shook his head. He had to find Raven. He had one shot - he had to get to her - he had to - he turned away, shaking his head to clear it, only to slam into Charles. Charles opened his mouth to yell at Erik about shooting Raven, and Erik watched his eyes shift focus from Erik's own face to the scene behind him - the red water and the broken body hanging above it. Charles slowly closed his mouth, all the color draining from his face. His eyes were brimming with tears, but his face remained stoic - so blank that it burned Erik to see. Charles caught Erik's eyes. "Erik. Erik, did you do this?"

Erik tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. "I - "

Charles' voice was low and quiet. "Yes or no?"

"I - "

"YES OR NO?" Charles bellowed.

"Yes," Erik whispered. "Yes, I did."

Charles held his gaze for a moment longer, his mouth twitching, and then shoved past Erik, stumbling toward his friend, his mouth forming his name. He reached up, but Hank's twisted form was so high that Charles could only brush his head, which was at such an abnormal angle that Charles' fingers hesitated.

"Bring him down," Charles spat. "Get him down, Erik. Get him down and - pl - please be careful." He raised his arms and gently caught Hank's body as Erik lowered the cables.

Charles fished Hank's glasses out of the fountain with shaking hands and slipped them onto his nose, his head propped against Charles' knees. His eyes were still open, a coating of soft glassy mist forming over them.

Charles hugged him close and rocked back and forth slowly, his body shaking with dry heaves, but his eyes stayed dry. It was too much - the pain and the anger. And so he was empty. His body was reacting violently, but his heart was so empty that he felt there was nothing left.

He brushed Hank's hair from his forehead and slowly, gently, closed his eyes beneath the glasses.

"Erik."

Erik appeared at his side, his nervous hope obvious.

Charles raised his face to look at him, his lips tight and eyes focused on Erik's. "I want you to know that I trusted you."

"What?"

"I trusted you. I did. I loved you, and I trusted you."

"Charles - "

"And that will never be the same again."

"Please, Charles - "

Charles lashed out with his mind and froze Erik in place, his mouth open and eyes wide. "NO!" he shouted. "Don't you _get_ it? I will _never_ trust you again. So long as I am living, and breathing, and - " He cast his eyes down to the body in his lap, and suddenly his heart was back, everything he had tried desperately not to feel for years rushing back. He crumpled in sobs. With Charles distracted, Erik broke free from his restraints and reached out to touch Charles, who promptly smacked his hand aside. "Never."

Erik backed away slowly, his chest heaving, his eyes moving back and forth rapidly between Hank and Charles.

"Now get the fuck away from my friend. And never show me your face again."


End file.
